


Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

by AStrangeFate



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Stiles gets lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 09:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6464344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AStrangeFate/pseuds/AStrangeFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well then what are we gonna do?” Stiles asked. Hot ranger wasn’t just going to leave him there was he? That would be negligence. It would look bad on the park, he could sue! Not that a dead man could sue, but that’s besides the point.</p><p>Or</p><p>Stiles gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon Derek who he mistakes for a park ranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Are We Out of the Woods Yet?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, keep in mind that I'm very Canadian and have never been to California. Does California even have caribou? Doesn't matter, it's in there. Props if you can spot the three video game references, one is obvious the other two are not. I always appreciate comments and if you would like you can follow me at astrangefate.tumblr.com!

Of course they got lost. Scott promised that they wouldn’t get lost, which basically guaranteed that they would. The worst part was that they weren’t even lost together so that Stiles could bitch and moan AT Scott for jinxing them. It wasn’t even really Stiles’ fault that they got separated. Scott got on a tangent about the texture of Allison’s hair or something and Stiles just kind of… dozed off. It was a defense mechanism that he had developed to fight off mind numbing boredom. It was kind of like sleep walking except he was awake. It worked wonders back when he was in high school and he had to sit through one of Harris’ chemistry classes, it was also a little scary when it happened when he was driving and he ended up at his destination without remembering actually driving there. The point was that if Scott hadn’t droned on about Allison’s perfect fingernails or whatever they wouldn’t have been in this situation. Who knows it might not have even been Stiles who wandered off, Scott could have gotten distracted and chased a butterfly off the trail. It wasn’t that crazy an idea. It was Scott after all.

It didn’t really matter whose fault it was, all Stiles knew is that he was lost and by himself in a giant national park and he was probably going to get eaten by a bear. Or fall off a cliff. There were a million different things that could kill Stiles within a hundred foot radius let alone 133,000 acres.

“‘Let’s go to Redwood Park Stiles’ he said ‘the trees and fresh air will be good for us’. Fresh air my ass, I’m going to fall and get my arm stuck and have to gnaw it off 127 hours style.” Stiles griped as he made his way through the identical looking redwoods.

He had been walking for long enough that he was starting to get worried. His phone had died a few hours into their hike because iPhone batteries are terrible and he had no idea what time it was. It had to be getting late based on where the sun was within the sky, but Stiles was never a boy scout he doesn’t know that shit.

Scott was pretty outdoorsy. He probably made it back visitors center or at least found a rangers station and now there was probably a search party out looking for him right? It had been at least a few hours he had been by himself which meant there had to be helicopters and dogs out by then right? Or he and Scott are both going to die out in the forest and people on the internet are going to add them to their conspiracy theories about missing hikers whose bodies were never found and how it means aliens or big foot or something like that. Oh hell no if he was going out he was not getting axed by big foot.

“Fuck big foot.” He said just loud enough that any lurking big foot, big feet? Big foots listening would get the idea and bugger off.

“Well that’s not very nice.” A voice said to Stiles’ left.

‘Oh god big foot is real and I’ve offended him’ Stiles though as he spun around trying to find the source of the voice.

He finally stopped his flailing when his eyes landed on…. Damn okay if this is big foot then yeah FUCK big foot. The man in front of his was tall and solid as a rock. He was wearing khakis which were quite frankly too tight to be comfortable under the Californian sun and a dark maroon plaid button up. He was clearly working the mountain man look which was only assisted by the three-day beard that he was rocking. This guy was too good looking to be out in the woods. His sleeves were perfectly rolled up and his beard was neatly shaped. He looked more like someone who stepped out of a hiking magazine editorial than the actual forest. The only thing that marked him as an actual hiker was the dirty state of his tan boots. Stiles was suddenly a bit too hot under the collar and it had nothing to do with the weather.

“Jesus sorry dude, you scared me.”

“It’s alright and don’t call me dude.” The man replied and wow, Stiles kind of thought his voice would be deeper, but damn it was smooth and it worked for him.

“Oh uh. Sorry.”

“You lost? You shouldn’t be out here by yourself, the park doesn’t allow for lone hikers without special passes and the elk can be dangerous this late in calving season.”   

Thank God, or Aslan or whatever deity was out there. He was saved. No one dressed like that while talking all kinds of nature jargon could be anything other than a park ranger. Except maybe Nathan Drake but he is fictional and therefore, does not count.

“Yes! So lost. But you found me! I’ve been wandering around for hours looking for my buddy Scott. I wandered off or he wandered off, you know what it doesn’t matter, but you’re here and I’m safe! Is there a ranger station nearby? Can you radio the visitors centre to see if Scott made it back? I really thought I was done for out here.” Stiles went on as he wandered over to his savior’s side.

Tall, dark and handsome gave him a look and raised one of his ungroomed, yet perfect eyebrows in confusion. Stiles was used to that look, most people weren’t prepared for Stiles when they first met him. He was a lot to take in.

“There's a rangers station about 14 kilometers east of here, but there is no way we make it before dark and I’m not running around the underbrush with you in the middle of the night.”

“Well then what are we gonna do?” Stiles asked. Hot ranger wasn’t just going to leave him there was he? That would be negligence. It would look bad on the park, he could sue! Not that a dead man could sue, but that’s besides the point.

Hot ranger sighed, “my camps just this way at the top of Dead Ram Grove, we can stay there for the night and get you to the ranger station in the morning. They can get a message out to the rest of the stations and the visitors center to see if your friend has turned up there.”

“Thank you so much. You are saving me. Literally. And I would be so pissed if I died. Anyways lead the way.”

Stiles gestured and hot ranger started making his way through the trees away from the path. Stiles followed and yeah there was absolutely no risk of wandering off when this guy was in front of him, damn.

‘Whose ass looks that good in khakis?’ Stiles thought ideally. Screw nature, this guy’s butt is what was truly breathtaking.

They had been walking for only a few minutes when hot ranger suddenly stopped and looked back at Stiles giving him a look that said ‘well?’.  

“I’m sorry did you say something.”

Hot ranger gave a huff that could have been considered a laugh if you listened hard enough.

“Yeah I said my name is Derek. Usually, when someone introduces themselves you’re supposed to introduce yourself back.”

“Oh! Sorry, I’m Stiles. I was kind of distracted.”

Hot ranger, or Derek, smirked almost to say he knew EXACTLY what Stiles was distracted by, but he didn’t point out Stiles ogling and they continued to walk towards Derek's camp.

Derek was right, they never would have made it to the rangers station before dark. It only took them about twenty minutes to the camp and it was already significantly darker. There were no clouds in the sky so they could still see by the light of the moon and stars for the last trek of their journey.

They got to very small a clearing when Derek just stopped…

“Why are we stopping?”

“We’re here.”

“I.. what? I thought you said you had a camp.”

Derek gave Stiles another smirk and then slowly swaggered up to him until their feet were practically touching. Stiles was sure that Derek was either about to make out with him or stone cold murder him. Either option Stiles was fine with because he could honestly say he could die happy after getting a good look at this guys eyes. What colour were they even? Green? Grey? Who cares Stiles might actually be in love.

Just when the silence was so tense that it demanded to be broken Derek pointed up.

Stiles gave him a confused look before following his finger up to where it was pointing and oh, giant backpack hanging from a tree. Of course.

Derek moved to fiddle with a line that Stiles hadn’t even seen to let the pack down.

“Bears are more likely to go through your shit if it's just laying around then actually climb up that high to claw at your rope.”

“How lazy of them.”

Derek had the camp set up in record time. Stiles tried to help, but he mostly just got in the way. He and Derek shared a few snacks for a make shift dinner. Stiles had only been camping a few times so he was a little disappointed by the lack of s’mores or hot dogs that they could cook over a fire with sticks, but he guessed that since this was Derek's job he wasn’t really out there to have fun with food. Still Stiles was thankful for the trail mix and jerky. All that walking made him extremely hungry, but he didn’t notice until they were sat down at the camp. They even split a strawberry pop tart for dessert.

“So what are you doing out here anyways,” Derek asked, breaking Stiles out of his reverie.

“My friend Scott convinced me that it would be a good idea. We’re both in our post-grad panic and he thought we might find ourselves out in nature or something stupid like that.”

“And instead of finding yourself you got even more lost?”

“Ha, yeah I guess I did.”

“I don’t know, I do some of my best thinking out here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Any problems you have somehow seem smaller when faced with all of this.”

“I don’t know, my problems don’t seem much smaller, I just end up feeling smaller.” Stiles looked down, this was turning down a path that was a little heavy for someone he just met, but Derek made him feel very at ease.

“Here come with me,” Derek said hauling himself off of his pillow and reaching a hand out to Stiles.

Stiles took it and Derek pulled him to his feet as if he weighed nothing, which he probably didn’t to Derek. They walked not too far to a trail leading up to a type of escarpment. He stayed close to Derek so to not get lost as it was significantly darker by then. Or at least, that’s what he told himself. He was hyper aware of Derek next to him, but he didn’t think he was imagining the way that Derek seemed to pay close attention to him as well. They stopped in front of a few branches which Derek pulled aside for him and… Wow.

The sheer face overlooked what seemed like the entire park. The redwoods, which seemed infinitely tall when he was standing among them, now seemed minuscule from up this high, yet infinite in another way. Stiles couldn’t believe he was down there all alone, there seemed no end to the trees aside from the occasional break revealing lakes or rivers of various sizes. What was most breathtaking, however, were the stars. Stiles had never seen so many in his life. Beacon Hills was no big city so they got a pretty good view of them, but it could never compare to how clear they were out there.

“Wow” proclaimed Stiles, still taking in the wonder of what he was seeing.

“Yeah, you can’t deny that view.” Derek replied, “still feeling small all the way up here?”

Stiles turned to look at Derek. He made such intense eye contact that Stiles felt like squirming under his gaze, but he couldn’t seem to move. If ever there was a moment in Stiles’ life that a kiss was appropriate it would be now. Derek seemed to get the message because they both leaned in and..

"STILES!”

Son of a bitch.

“Oh my god Stiles you’re okay! I looked for you for like an hour before I called the welcome centre and told them you got lost. They sent some rangers out, we’ve been looking for you for like four hours.”

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

If you had told Stiles two hours ago that his best friend and a team of park rangers were out looking for him then he would have cried of joy, but now he was going to cry for a totally different reason.

“I’m okay Scott.” He said through his teeth as his best friend hugged him and checked him over for injury. “I found a ranger of my own. I was totally fine.”

“Another ranger?” questioned a husky male voice coming from the break in the trees from which Scott came. A flash light was turned on and pointed at the three men standing together. “Oh! Hey there Mr. Hale. Good to know someone found our young friend here. No Mr. Hales no ranger, but he ought to be. Knows this park better than most.”

“Hey Sam.” Derek gave a half wave in the direction of the light while still squinting against it.

“Oh! You seemed so knowledgeable I just kind of assumed.”

“You wouldn’t be the first actually. My family is one of the largest benefactors to the park, I grew up coming here.” Derek explained.

“Yup, the young Mr. Hale here could tell the different between an elk and a caribou before he came up to my knee I swear to you.” said the man with the flashlight who was coming out of the bushes. The voiced belonged to an elder man with the most impressive white mustache Stiles had ever seen. He fit a stereotypical image of what a ranger should look like. Give him an eyepatch and Stiles might have mistaken him for Rooster Cogburn.

“Alright come on, I’ll give you kids a ride back down to your car in the Gator. You comin too Mr. Hale?”

“No Sam, I’m all set up for the night out here. Thanks though.”

Stiles heart sunk. The moment was ruined, there goes that dream. No hot not-ranger babies for Stiles in the future.    

“Come on then, this way gentlemen,” Sam said gesturing for Scott and Stiles to follow. Scott happy followed behind.

Stiles gave a disappointed half smile to Derek before going to follow where Sam and Scott disappeared when. Oh. Derek grabbed Stiles arm and gently pulled there bodies together. Derek brought his face ever that much closer as if asking permission and when Stiles didn’t pull away he closed the gap between them. The kiss was gentle, but so hot and Stiles couldn’t help but bring his hands up to Derek’s face and try to deepen the kiss. Stiles was a few seconds away from forsaking all of his worldly goods and moving out into the woods with Derek when Sam called back to them.

“You comin young man? I don’t want to have to find you twice!”

“One second Sam!” Derek hollered back, for which Stiles was grateful because he didn’t think he could form words after a kiss like that.

They were still holding on to each other. Stiles wondered if they were going to go back to kissing, which he would have really enjoyed, or if one of them was going to break the silence.

“So would you like to grab coffee sometime? Preferably not in the woods.” Derek joked.

“Oh yes please. Absolutely yes.” Stiles stuttered out, lips still a little numb from their previous activities.

Derek smiled and slipped Stiles his number. He gave Derek one last peck before following after Sam and Scott, the last thing he wanted was to linger too long and have his best friend come back and find him in a compromising position. He was exhausted the whole drive through the woods back to his jeep and even more so on the drive home. At least Scott got to sleep in the passenger’s seat for the forty-five minutes it took them to get back to Beacon Hills. Yet despite his exhaustion, Stiles couldn’t stop smiling. When he finally got home he passed out and had pleasant dreams about Yogi Bear trying to steal Derek’s backpack out of a tree, which he texted Derek in the morning. Turns out Derek didn’t live too far away from Beacon Hills so they set up a coffee date for the following day. Maybe Scott was right, a day out in nature might have been better for Stiles than he ever would have thought.  


End file.
